To the Mayor of Glina, Mr. Manole Marin regarding the stray dog overpopulation problem of Glina – and killed dogsDuring a Saturday night in January 2008 where four dogs shot to death in a dog shelter in Glina, right outside Bucharest. During the medical investigation it was discovered that the dogs were not only shot but also cut with a sword. One of the dogs had 22 shots.Volunteers had worked day and night to build a shelter for them in a field, after the dogs had been thrown out of another dog rescue center where they previously lived. They where evacuated, because the land needs to be part of an urban development project. These volunteers had worked hard to set up fences for 200 dogs, they had carried thousands of liters of water in buckets by their bare hands, they had cried when puppies did not survive the cold nights, they had strived to build dog houses for the weaker ones, they had managed to get 2 tons of chicken to feed the dogs, they had fought around New Years in the worst snow storm in Romania for 15 years to keep the dogs safe and sound. And now four of the dogs where shot, some of them not even a year old. Who did this? A private person tired of the dog situation? A hunter? The dogs where inside the kennels that the volunteers had build. The deed where done by night. The stray dog population in the Glina area is not acceptable. It is not a sustainable situation for humans nor canines. Something has to be done. And the responsibility is of the Mayor of Glina. Why where the dogs thrown out of their old shelter, because the city needed the land? Why are there no working sterilizations programs in Glina? Why do people get so frustrated with the stray dog over population that they have to kill dogs by night? Because Glina do not take their responsibility to take care of the problem. We urge the Mayor of Glina, Mr. Manole Marin to do something about the stray dog over population problem: 1. We are appealing to you to immediately start a neutering and spaying program in collaboration with animal protection associations in Romania. This is the only way to reduce an overpopulation of dogs - we have seen that this method have worked well in the EU as well as in the rest of the world. Killing is not a sustainable alternative. 2. We would like the land that where taken from these homeless individuals to be given back to them; land for a shelter to take care of the dogs that are homeless. Where they are now is only temporary, and it is not safe where they are now. To invest in safety, the dogs need a place where they can stay in a longer perspective. 3. It is not legal for private persons to kill dogs according to the “Romanian law 205/2004 for animals' protection” chapter 1 and the “Romanian Law 155/2001 for stray dogs' management”. We would like Mr. Manole Marin to give an information campaign about this in the Glina area. We much welcome the Romanian enter in the European Union and hope that you will live up to it as a modern and compassionate county. Please use you power to make a better situation for humans and dogs of Glina.

Carina Björkén, President of Daisy Hope Sweden

Daisy Hope Sweden is an animal right organization of Sweden, working in collaboration with other animal organizations in the EU. www.daisyhope.se